I do not own nor do I make profit off of Twilight. All the rights belong to it's author Stephanie Meyer!
I'm sorry This on is a little late! I got so busy the last week before Christmas I didn't have time to edit this one until just now! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and please enjoy this little gift from me to you!
Reviews:
Cullen123- HELLO! It is sooooo amazing of you to once again STOP by and leave me just a nice review! I can't thank you enough! It honestly means so much to me and I enjoy seeing your name pop up! I hope you had an amazing holiday and once again THANK YOU!
AzureTheVampire-HELLO MY FRIEND! OMG it's been so long my friend, but I with such an amazing screen name I never forgot you and instantly smiled when I saw your name! Let me just start out by saying I completely understand how busy life can be and that you wont always be able to review and that's okay! Next, please don't give up on Garret! My whole intention was not only to introduce him into the story a little bit early but also to show how much he loves the Cullens. His intentions with Mare was really to kill her so she wouldn't learn the Cullens secret as he thought she was just a little to close to their property, but i promise you when he shows up later their whole dynamic will be much lighter and even a little silly. Second, I hope you like seeing the Denails a little more here! I wanted to focus kinda on Tanya since she is the matriarch of the family, and while you wont see it in this chapter Mare will start to realize she has more family than she thought. Third, It makes me so happy to hear that you get the warm and fuzzies from the family interacting, because I do too! It's my favorite thing to write, hence why theirs so much of it! and I promise you, Mare will see and accept all the help coming her way;) Lastly, THANK YOU SO MUCH for commenting and being so kind to me! I honestly couldn't stop smiling the whole day after reading your review, it made my heart warm and I felt soooo happy! Words can't express how kind and amazing you are! Thank you for coming back, thank you for reviewing, and thank you for just being AWESOME!
TheMorbidGal- I'M SO SORRY THIS DISTRACTED YOU! I know exactly how it feels when you're suppose to be doing something like cleaning or homework or just anything and you get distracted by a story! But let me tell you I am so happy to have you here! Your review was soooo kind and honestly brought the biggest smile to my face and I was able to go about my day in a really good mood! It means so much that you found this little story of mine and left a review! It honestly means the world to me and I appreciate that you were able to get thought he earlier chapters with their mistake and all! I hope you had the best holiday and that this chapter is worth the wait! Again thank you so much for the review it was much tooooo kind!
Ooshnish-HELLOOO! Not goanna lie, I was waiting for your name to pop up, sorry for it being late but the hiloidays got the best of me. Carlisle and Mare chapters are my favorite to write and read so I was hoping it would be enough to tide everyone over until I could get this one out and as I promised it's much longer lol. Anyway, I hope you holiday was AMAZING and that everything is great over there! Thank you so much for alwjays reading and reviewing, it honestly means the absolute world to me and I always smile when I see your name! Thank you for being amazing and thank you for being my little internet friend! This chapter is for you!
Let Her In
"Mare," Emmett jumps out of nowhere. I'm sitting in the kitchen, my homework on my right and an empty plate of Esme's chicken carbonara on my left. The rule in the house is that Emmett has to wait until my plate is empty and I haven't asked for seconds to talk to me. A rule Esme just made when she noticed us talking instead of me eating.
"Emmett?" I ask looking back down at my homework,
"What do you want for Christmas?" I drop my pencil and look up at him,
"Oh umm, nothing." I shrug looking back down to my worksheet. Emmett gasps catching me so off guard I almost fall off my bar stool,
"NOOOO,"
"What are you doing?"
"ESME!" I lean forward grabbing his arm and pulling him closer to me, but with his large build it's hard to get a grasp on him and I end up grabbing his sleeve,
"Shhhhh!"
"HELP" I give up hopping off the bar stool and onto his back trying my best to cover his mouth "ESME!"
"Shut up" I hiss
"What is going on!" We freeze, Emmett in the middle of the kitchen, me on his back, both hands on his face. Rose, Edward, Carlisle, and Tanya follow behind, stopping at the sight before them.
"Emmett-" Carlisle says carefully,
"Are you roughhousing in my kitchen?!" Esme's voice deepens angrily. Emmett quickly sets me on the floor and now we are standing side by side, guilty looks on our faces,
"Mare says she doesn't want anything for Christmas," Emmett says quickly pointing to me. I reach up slapping his finger away,
"Emmett was bothering me while I was eating." Emmett looks offended, looking between both Esme and I
"No, no, no, no-"
"Emmett I made that rule for a reason." Esme crosses her arms,
"She was finished, besides doesn't it bother you, that she doesn't want anything for Christmas!"
"I also wasn't done with my homework."
"It's Tuesday!" Emmett defends,
"Did I hear you say Mare doesn't want anything for Christmas?" Alice appears out of nowhere, before turning to Tanya and smiling, "You came."
"Alice, where have you been?" Esme questions and although she doesn't look tired, she sounds it,
"Sorry, I had something to do."
"Would be nice if you let us know what you're doing sometimes," Rose stresses glancing at Tanya, who looks unfazed.
"Where would the fun in that be." Alice smiles, turning back to Emmett and I.
"Mare, you have to make a Christmas list," I keep my mouth shut, I've learned my lesson with Emmett. Who knows if I'll even be here by Christmas...maybe I want to be. Either way when no one says anything I speak,
"Aren't you supposed to wait till after Thanksgiving to talk about Christmas?" Esme's face lights up and she quickly turns to everyone lingering in the kitchen and shoes them out. She only has to look at Emmett for him to quickly scurry out, but not before tugging on a strand of my hair. I reach out to slap him, but he's too fast. I'll get him back later.
"Speaking of Thanksgiving, Mare is there anything special you want?" I slide back onto the barstool,
"Special?" I ask, watching as Esme steps into the kitchen, coming to stand behind the kitchen island to face me. Carlisle follows her.
"Something special you make on Thanksgiving that I can replicate for you?"
"Oh.." I start grabbing my pencil and look back at my paper, "No, not really."
"It is just you and your mother?" the words on my worksheet blend together, I can't remember if I was doing math or history...I give up and look back to Esme's face and nod,
"Yup."
"Is it just the normal Thanksgiving foods?" She asks "Turkey, mash potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, anything else?"
"Oh umm, no." Esme's brows furrow, "We actually would just order pizza." I elaborate,
"Pizza?" Carlisle questions coming up behind Esme to lean on the countertop,
"Ya, there's a restaurant down the street from our house." I explain, "They're open all year round so on holidays we would just order from there."
"Well, sweetheart." Esme looks to Carlisle before facing me, "How would you like it if I cooked you a traditional Thanksgiving."
"Don't go to all that trouble." My last traditional Thanksgiving was years ago, I was seven and barely remember it. My normal Thanksgiving is sitting on the couch watching the Macy's Day parade followed by the dog show, while we eat pizza. Thanksgiving usually ends after the winning dog is announced and mom opens a bottle of champagne that is quickly followed by a bottle of Tito's. Then it's a three-day bender until she sobers up Sunday night. I do my best to ignore her and stay in my room. Every year Matt invites me over to his house for dinner, but leaving means no one is here to flip mom onto her side when she eventually passes out.
"It's no trouble." Esme smiles, but I don't buy it. I may not remember what a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is, but I've heard people talk about it and watched TV specials, it's an all-day cooking event. Esme has better things to do than babysit food she can't eat.
"It's really okay," I reassure, her smile falls but she quickly fixes it,
"I can order a pizza?" I nod,
"That sounds great." She turns back to Carlisle, both share a look before she walks away, her heels fast on the hardwood floor. I watch her retreating form before turning to Carlisle "Is everything okay?" Carlisle reaches forward tapping my worksheet with two fingers,
"Back to your homework please."
…
Later that night after I've showered and changed into a soft pair of sweatpants and a fitted white tee someone knocks on my door.
"Come in." I expect Edward, but instead, I'm greeted with red curly locks,
"Would it be okay if I come in and chat?" Tanya asks a soft smile on her lips. I swallow and quickly nod. After my homework, I came straight up to my room to grab a book and read. The others were all talking and I really didn't want to interrupt, honestly, I didn't feel like I could. Everyone was chatting and looked so happy to reunite I knew I would just be out of place, and I wanted to finish my book anyway.
"uh ya, of course." I scoot back on my bed giving Tanya room to walk over and take a seat. She looks around before turning back to me,
"This is a nice room."
"Esme decorated it," I nod, "It was really nice of her to let me use it."
"Esme has a very talented eye for turning this kind of thing, she's made quite the little business for herself." This catches me off guard,
"What?" Tanya nods,
"Esme has a small interior design business. Other businesses like to consult with her for ideas, she's done many remodels for some pretty large estates."
"I didn't know that." How did I not know that? Was it talked about in the book, if it was I didn't get there, I didn't get far in it at all. N ow that I think of it, I didn't even know the Cullens had cousins.
"She doesn't really talk about it." Tanya shrugs, "Esme doesn't really talk a lot about herself in general, I'm sure you've noticed." I scrunch my brows...I never thought of it before, but she's right. I've never heard Esme talk about herself...I've never asked either...I know nothing about her. When I don't say anything Tanya continues,"Edward says your full name is Marceline, but you like to be called Mare is that correct?" I nod,
"Ya,"
"Alice says the whole house loves you and we will too," I swallow, not exactly knowing what to say, "I trust Alice and I especially trust Carlisle and he's reassured us that our secret is safe with you." She takes a breath, "A lot of it is the situation you're in, which I don't completely understand but who am I to say anything about it."
"It's unbelievable I know."
"Mare," Tanya rolls her eyes, "I'm a vampire, I dabble in the unbelievable." We share a smile, "We're really not here to cause problems I promise."
"I didn't think that."
"I know you didn't, some of the others do, but really the reason we're here is to see you." I swallow, my mouth suddenly feeling dry.
"Why?"
"Our covens are very close, together we form a small family. This is going to sound selfish but when I heard Carlisle had invited a human to live with him I was a bit nervous. Our secret is a very important one, not just anyone who's not in on our world can know. I wanted to know the situation better and understand why Carlisle made the decision he did." She smirks and leans forward to bump my shoulder, "I also very much wanted to meet you and see how the others were dealing with all of this, but I see my concerns were unfounded."
"You think?" I ask eyebrow raised,
"The hardest people you had to win over you already did. Rose hates humans and Jasper fears hurting them, neither feel that towards you."
"To be fair Rose hated me for a while." Tanya chuckles,
"She's changed her mind quickly, and Esme is absolutely smitten." I feel my cheeks redden, I'm not use to this affection and I'm really not used to hearing it...a part of me wishes she would stop, "That's actually a big reason why I came to talk to you."
"What do you mean?" Tanya looks down, it looks like she's gathering her thoughts,
"Let Esme make you a traditional Thanksgiving dinner." This catches me off guard and for a second I laugh, but when Tanya doesn't laugh with me I stop,
"I thought it was something bad." Tanya swallows before speaking,
"Mare, someday Esme will tell you all about herself, until then please let me elaborate a little bit on who she is." I nod, waiting for her to continue."Esme is a mother. She's a mother to everyone she meets no matter if they want it or not. I don't know your family situation or where you come from, but I ask you to let Esme in once in a while, she doesn't show it, but I know she considers you to be part of her family, and she takes care of her family, but she also respects them." My heart hurts. I know Esme is motherly, I know she wants to take care of me, but... I'm afraid too. If I let Esme mother me does that mean I'm giving up on my own mother?
Esme has made every meal I've eaten since getting here.
Esme waits for me after school.
Esme made and decorated a whole room for me.
Esme sat with me when I was sick.
Esme took me shopping.
And,
Esme is the one who scolds Alice when she tries to tell me what to wear.
Esme was always supposed to be a mother, while mine never was, but,
My mother always tried her best.
My mother made sure I was fed even though she doesn't cook.
My mother kept money on my lunch card.
My mother knows my favorite pizza topping.
My mother loves brushing my hair.
My mother loves me.
But,
My mother drink.
I've known the origins of her drinking, why she started, why she can't stop...but I still love her. I love her more than anyone...but I'm beginning to love Esme too. I told her so this morning... I feel a tear roll down my cheek and quickly reach up to brush it away. I look away from Tanya embarrassed she reaches forward and pats my knee,
"I know what you're thinking."
"You do?" Tanya nods,
"Letting Esme love you doesn't invalidate your mother." Her smile is sad, "I felt the same the first few times I met her." I wait for her to continue, "I lost my own mother many, many years ago, and when I met Esme..well let's just say, while I don't look it, I am much older than her, but she still had this motherly instinct that I have never had in my life." I understand that. "The thought of letting Esme in made me think back to my mother and that by doing that I would be forgetting her or not honoring her, but trust me when I tell you this Mare, a mother wants what's best for her child and when she can't be there to make that possible she relies on other women to step up and I think that's what your mother would want." I take a breath before shaking my head,
"I don't think so."
"I do." Tanya stresses, reaching forward to gently turn my face towards her, "So please, let Esme in a bit, let her for once in her life cook Thanksgiving dinner, it's not a bother, it's what she really wants to do." I bite my cheek, maybe it would be nice to actually have turkey on turkey day.
"Okay." Tanya smiles,
"Perfect, now the other reason I came up here."
"Theirs two?" I raise an eyebrow,
"Let's get to know each other a bit more." Great.